


A Crown Of Flowers

by Atol



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Real Person Fiction, mcyt
Genre: Background SkepHalo tbh, Blood, Flower Symbolism, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, One-Sided Attraction, Paradise Found, Temporarily Unrequited Love, Unrequited Love, Vurb Centric, no beta we die like george in manhunt, this is Vurbs time to shine, this is crack treated srsly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:42:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27606452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Atol/pseuds/Atol
Summary: Poppies are a symbol of remembrance, of sacrifice, of death. It's also a symbol success.It doesn't feel like much of a win, as he grips his bathroom sink with knuckles turned white, the red petals staring back up at him.
Relationships: BadBoyHalo & Quackity, Skeppy & Quackity, Skeppy/Badboyhalo, Vurb & Skeppy, Vurb/Quackity, Vurb/Skeppy
Comments: 6
Kudos: 85





	1. Chapter 1

It was a bit like going to the beach without telling anyone where you were. In the middle of the night. And your phone was dead. Dangerous, but in such a slight, off-handed way that only you knew just how large of a risk it was afterwards. That you could tell other people what you did and they would be able to dismiss it as just carelessness, instead of willful endangerment.  


That's what it felt like as he kept orbiting his friend, always near but never crashing together.

Vurb knew he was treading towards deep waters. He did, he really did. But he couldn't help it. Something tight and deep in his stomach always pulled him towards Skeppy, no matter what his brain had to say about it. He let himself be pulled into pranks that had them running for safety, let him get talked into helping Skeppy well past sunset for building projects, could never refuse late night talks over their communicators as the sun peeked through his window. 

He couldn't help it, he'd tread too deep, the undercurrents had taken hold and dragged him under. Ripped him away from the surface and choked the air out of his lungs everytime Skeppy laughed or smiled, everytime they sat budged up next to each other on the couch while watching a movie or just talking.  


He was in love with his friend.

Vurb, unfortunately came to this sudden realization, while sitting at Skeppy's kitchen table as said object of affection was pacing in front of him, gesticulating between bouts of pulling at his own fluffy dark hair. 

Vurb is rudely interrupted from his wool gathering, as Skeppy whirls around to face him and waves a hand in his face.

"Helllllloooooooo, are you even listening?" Skeppy asks, voice wavering only slightly. Leaning in close he narrows his eyes at Vurb. "This is serious man, stop spacing out and. Help. Me. Out."

"Sorry, tell me from the beginning, I'm listening I swear." Vurb says, even as he flushes slightly from the proximity of their faces.

Sighing, Skeppy stomps his way to the fridge and rustles around for a moment before pulling out a ziplock baggie, a mix of pale pink petals and congealed blood. He throws it down onto the table in front of Vurb.

Swallowing around a suddenly too thick tongue sitting in his mouth Vurb glanced up at Skeppy, who had an unreadable expression painted across his face.

He didn't even want to say it, but the silence stretched between them, too thin to take it and snapped.

"...Hanahaki?" Vurb asked in a hushed, punched out whisper.

Skeppy hugged himself and nodded as he bit at his bottom lip before speaking.

"I've been coughing those up since last week and I think it's getting worse. I can't breathe right, right now and everytime I think about Bad-" 

Vurb watches, a deep terrifying feeling welling up in his chest as Skeppy puts a hand over his mouth and hacks wetly. Scrambling out of his seat, not even caring as the chair clatters to the ground in his haste, he pats the others back until he dislodges another fistful of petals. Rubbing a soothing circle into Skeppy's back he leads the dark haired boy to the couch and sets him down, pulling his friend into his side.

A small sliver of guilt wormed its way into Vurb's gut as a fluttering feeling washed over him when Skeppy snuggled in and clung to him. He shouldn't be enjoying this, shouldn't hold onto his friend so tightly, shouldn't want this feeling to never end.

The tears trailing down Skeppy's face had his heart fracturing in chest, had him resting his chin on top of the others head as his shirt got more and more damp. The hiccuping sobs shook the both of them and each one sent a jolt of guilt through Vurb as he held on tight.

"I love him so much it hurts, Vurb. He smiles and it feels like my chest is in a vice and everytime he say-says something stupid like naming a- a- a fish Mr. Sqeegee I feel lightheaded, I don't know what to do." Skeppy chokes out.

Petting the others back and trying to calm him down with a combination if soft shushing noises and gentle touches, he struggled to find the words to help.

"We'll fix it. Don't worry about it. Bad would be crazy to not love you back, I promise. This will be fixed so fast, don't even stress." Vurb murmured to the other, rocking him a little as Skeppy slowly quieted down.

And if Vurb felt a tickle at the back of his throat, that was nobody's business but his own.


	2. Chapter 2

It takes a good hour, bleeds close to an hour and a half really, before Vurb gets Skeppy properly calmed down. And that might be a bit of an overstatement that Vurb was able to do much, other than hold onto the other as he cried himself into a restless, twitchy sleep.

Vurb's breath caught on the raw edges in his throat as he looked down at the boy in his arms. Despite the splotchy red patches and puffy eyes from the tears, he couldn't help but think he was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. One shaky hand came up and wiped at the tear tracks left on the younger's cheek and he smiled weakly as Skeppy leaned into the touch.

Oh it hurt. It was like a burning in his chest that choked his lungs, had his head spin at the dizzying pain that bloomed there. He was caught between two fires, both threatening to burn him until he was brittle and black with soot. The heat in his cheeks from the closeness, the stark want in his bones to get even closer, to press his lips against the tan skin so close, so close it would leave him with blisters if he just reached out.

_He doesn't love you._

_He loves Bad, so much that he's dying._

_He'll never love you back._

And as those thoughts swarmed, he let his thumb rub over the soft cheek still in his palm and he realized something. 

It didn't matter. It really. Did. Not. Matter. It was irrelevant if Skeppy loved him back. 

What mattered was that Skeppy was happy. 

That he wouldn't pass out after crying so hard he couldn't breathe. That this didn't happen again. That the petals wouldn’t grow to full flowers, to stems and roots until it strangled the breath from him. Vurb could not look away from the sight, could not tear his eyes away as he gazed at his friend. Took in all the slight imperfections of his skin, his chapped lips, tender from all the nervous biting, the ruffled hair from hands tugging and running through the fluffy mess. 

What mattered was that Vurb could make sure that Skeppy lived.

He spends the night, soaking in the feeling. Knowing that he was stealing these moments, because Skeppy wasn't his. Would never be his. But he could pretend, in the moonlight. He could imagine and dream, as he held onto the tan boy in his arms. Just for one night.

He knew Bad liked Skeppy, it was likely that this was a mutual situation. Vurb wasn't blind. He saw how they interacted, could only imagine what they were like without an audience. So it was a matter of getting them to admit it, which was admittedly the much harder portion of the plan. Skeppy was evasive, twitchy like a hummingbird, as if he stopped moving his heart would stop. Bad wasn't much better, he was just more likely to keep it inside or fib or redirect things. 

Short of trapping them in a hole and waiting them out, he wasn't entirely certain how he would get them to talk, but it wasn't a matter of if he could. It was when, because he wouldn't be willing to live in a world without Skeppy in it.

Eventually the steady rise and fall of Skeppy's breathing lulled his racing mind into a blank black sleep.

The next morning Skeppy is just about bouncing off the walls with an exuberant energy that Vurb struggles to match. The sun was too bright, the air too cold, every little noise too loud. He, if didn't know better, would have thought he was hung over with the nauseous feeling thick in his gut.

Seemingly in the night Skeppy had gotten a boost of confidence about his situation, or perhaps it was the fact that Bad had sent a message over the communicator inviting them to stay a bit at his home before the heat picked up and made the journey too hot to consider.

"Okay, okay, okay okay okay! Plans! We need 'em." The hyperactive boy chattered as Vurb rubbed the sleep from his eyes and slowly righted the still fallen chair before settling into it.

"Why do you need anything special, just tell Bad how you feel. Straight forward. Simple." Vurb croaked, throat dry.

"Vurb! No! What if he rejects me out the bat, or or or, thinks I'm trolling!?" Skeppy screeches.

"Skeppy...okay he might think you're trolling you have me there. Just. I dunno, be sincere about it?" Vurb said, watching Skeppy as he continues to wear a track into his wood flooring.

"I don't know if he'll take me seriously even if I am sincere about it. I don't even know if he likes me like that!" Skeppy whined.

Struggling not to roll his eyes, Vurb cleared his throat of an odd scratchy tickle and spoke.

"Skeppy, I love you dude, but you are blind if you don't know Bad has it...well bad for you." He says, looking anywhere but at his friend.

"You're just saying that, Bad doesn't-" Skeppy gets cut off by another round of coughs as he rushes to the sink.

Vurb gets up and watches, hesitating before placing a hand in the middle of Skeppy's back.

"No, Skeppy, I'm really not. Get your head out of your ass for a second and just listen to me. Bad likes you. I'd go so far as to say he loves you. Just put on your big boy pants and talk to him, before you get any worse." Vurb bites out, rubbing the others back as he wretches into the kitchen sink.

Eventually the petals stop, and Skeppy slips away into the bathroom to shower and have a moment alone.

Blood stained delicate pink petals sit crumpled in the sink. Vurb stands nearby, his eyes switching from the flaking blood as it dries, and the open window looking out on Skeppy's small farm. The younger boy was busy getting dressed and packing up for the trip over to Bad's place. It was about a day's trek, without horses. As he thinks about his friend, a tightness in his throat he can't ignore has him wheeze before he's also bent over the sink, struggling to be quiet as a slimy thick glob forces its way up his throat and drips from his lips like lies. 

Blood red petals of poppies stare back up at him balefully, and he quickly wipes at his mouth, and turns on the sink to wash the evidence away.

"What are you doing?" Skeppy asks and Vurb only barely resists the urge to scream.

"Just cleaning up, can't just leave...could attract pests or something. They're small enough to go down the drain I think." He manages to say, glancing over his shoulder and feeling the relief flood through him, that no crimson petals were to be seen.

"....I guess? I've just been throwing them out in the compost." Skeppy says, and he pulls his pack up onto his shoulders. "You ready?"

"Yeah! Yeah. Lemme just throw on my boots." Vurb says as he wills himself to unfreeze and just move.

There is a moment, thick with tension that made him feel like he was wading through waist high mud. He heard Skeppy laugh and forced himself to relax as he tied on his boots.

"Dude, did you get any sleep last night, you're like a zombie right now. You good? We can leave a little later if you need more sleep." Skeppy says, concern twisted over his features and it makes Vurb break out into a cold sweat.

"No! No, no. I'm good. I just need some fresh air, I'm good." He said as he stood up and strode out the front door, making Skeppy jog to catch up with a laugh.

The thick raw feeling in the back of his throat be damned, they were getting to Bad's house sooner rather than later. If he could just get the two to talk, or possibly lock them in a room, he would be able to sneak away long enough to try and ease the wheezing feeling in his lungs, at least for a moment.

The journey over was another dozen moments that Vurb stole and tucked away in the back of his mind for safe keeping, even as he steadily struggled to breathe. Whereas Skeppy seemed to be getting a little better, or had never gotten to a point where he was confronted with the sheer impossibility of his love being returned. As if, despite his anxieties, even he knew that Bad loved him back even if they hadn't talked about it.

Vurb did not have that same safety net. That same constant knowledge. He had only the truth, that Skeppy did not love him back. Not in the way that would let him breathe easy.

So instead he greedily drank in the way that the sun kissed Skeppy's skin, the way his eyes shone with excitement, or how they crinkled with laughter as Vurb entertained his friends with joke after joke. The sound of the others guffaws echoing through the woods around them filled his chest with a warmth that was just shy of too much, like the feeling of cupping a hot cocoa mug with icy fingers.

His heart held into the feeling even as it burned through him, and it took all of his focus to just keep the smile on his face as natural as possible, even as he realized he'd likely die, helping his friends realize what was already painfully obvious. 

The sooner they got to Bad's house, the better. The sooner that Skeppy could breathe, the sooner this would all be over and Vurb wouldn't have to worry about it anymore, if the wheezing as he breathes was anything to go by. His flowers seemed to be coming in much more rapidly than Skeppy's, and he was split on cursing it and thanking the fates that that was the case.

As long as Skeppy didn't have to deal with this, then he could shoulder it.

Finally, just as the sky started to darken and splatter with points of light, Bad's home came into view, and Skeppy took off running even as he wheezed and shouted to their friend in greeting. Vurb stayed back, knowing that if he ran right now petals would quickly follow. Instead he watched as he slowly approached. Eyes locked on the two who were currently on the ground after Skeppy had taken a flying leap at Bad and knocked the both of them to the ground in a tangle of laughing limbs, shouting about who knows what. 

A bittersweet smile carved itself onto Vurb's face. He loved Bad much the same way he loved most of his friends, fiercely, like family, he wanted nothing more than to just be happy for them. Bad deserved to be happy, he really truly did, and Skeppy deserved the world. Even at the expense of the very air in his chest, Vurb truly believed they should be together. 

Even as he ducked out behind a tree while they were distracted and tried to muffle his own strangled sobs as full flowers made their way from his lungs, latching onto flesh and pulling pain from Vurb, trying to twist him inside out on his own feelings.

They deserved to be happy together.

Maybe Vurb deserved this pain.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Im still here, still alive lol

It was set to be a few weeks of hanging out. Just a nice relaxing time of catching up with each other. It had been odd when most of them had gone their separate ways, from leaving the little community they had built to venture off on their own. He missed waking up to the sounds of other people, which is why he had accepted the invitation so quickly. If he had known that petals would become such a central point he may have hesitated.   
He still would have accepted, though.

It was just barely making its way from Spring to Summer so the weather was as pleasant as could be, and there was much to do to fill the days. Now was the best time for them to gather together and relax before any major work during the hotter season came, and most had stores enough to not worry too much about food or protection. 

There were plenty of opportunities for Vurb to try and take advantage of to get these two to just talk to each other. And he knew they would have to do it on their own because last night had been a disaster. Everytime that Skeppy had pushed, Bad had only giggled nervously while shooting Vurb looks that screamed 'get me outta here' and when Bad had finally gotten the courage to try talking, Skeppy was already at the end of his rope, too focused on the previous perceived rejections to notice. Instead he just switched between shooting glares and pleading puppy eyes at Vurb, as if that was going to do anything other than make the poor man's chest feel like it was stuffed full of leaves. 

No, he wouldn't be able to hover like he originally thought as a not so distant from the issue mediator. He was going to just have to make them be stuck with each other until something broke and they got over themselves.   
One small detail that Vurb had not been able to account for, was the newcomer. 

Skeppy hadn't been warned about it either, but Bad had another guest on the list. Bad had let them know that he had invited a few other people, but so far only one guy called Quackity had said he’d be joining them. The new guy had a big, joyful smile stretched over his lips when he had finally arrived just as Vurb had stalked out of the house, finally fed up with the tension in the room as Bad and Skeppy argued over sleeping arrangements. 

Vurb had run right into the guy as he was trying to enter the house and it was a confusing jumble of limbs for a moment as the two caught each other mid fall and just looked at each other. Even as frustrated and confused as he was in that moment, Vurb couldn’t help to think in a distant sort of way that the guy was cute. Dark hair sticking out from under his beanie, and a sly sort of look in his eyes, like he knew a joke he was dying to tell you.

"Uh, hi. Sorry. Didn't mean to just bowl you over like that." Vurb managed as he quickly let go of the other man.

"No problem, no problem! Should have knocked honestly, that's on me." Was the cheerful reply. "Call me Quackity." 

"Vurb." He said as he stuck out a hand and shook it.

"So ah, you seem a bit in a rush, all good in there?" Quackity asked.

Vurb couldn't stop the almost bitter scoff and blushed a little under the quirked eyebrow the other gave him in response.

"That good, huh?"

"The sexual tension in the air is enough to choke a horse." Vurb jokes.

He falters a little under the scrutinizing look Quackity has him trapped under and he laughs nervously before he feels the same dreaded tickle in the back of his throat and makes to step around the other quickly, hand coming up to clap over his mouth.

"Excuse me one sec, be- be right back." He manages to say around the slimy slick feeling of petals on his tongue as he scurries away.

Quackity just watches the other hunched over form retreat into the forest that surrounded Bad's property with a slight frown. Sighing, he squared his shoulders and walked in, twin shouts of surprise ripped from the two who were suspiciously close to each other on the couch. 

"Well, well, well, what's going on in here?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know Ive posted so many other wips but i always come back to this.

With the last arrival, Vurb learned a few things.

Quackity had a quick wit to him, was a little too fast with quips for Vurb to always catch all of them, but it was good in a way because it kept any awkward silences that stretched on too long between Skeppy and Bad down to a minimum.

Despite not really understanding why their eyes would meet, often glancing at each other over the heads of the other two, who were still steadily ignoring what was right in front of their eyes.

Maybe it was a little bit of solidarity between him and Quackity. It was a lot to even be near Skeppy and Bad when they started to really go at it. One moment they are so achingly close and sweet that Vurb can do nothing except excuse himself and pluck petals off his tongue. The next they are yelling and fighting like their lives depended on it, which only had Vurb panicking at the pale looks Skeppy would shoot him.

The beanie he wore never seemed to come off, even when he slept, and he was always ready to needle at any weakness that the other three in the house showed. It seemed mostly harmless, and even as he panicked with each wheezing breath he couldn’t fully hide from the others, Vurb couldn’t help but laugh at his antics all the same. 

It was a little easier to breathe, sometimes.

Whenever he got the feeling in his chest or wheezed just a little too loudly, Quackity seemed to have some sort of sixth sense and would swoop in and either distract the two lovebirds, or just straight up pull Vurb aside and leave him in the bathroom or some other private place before going back to his business.

It always sent Vurb into a panic, because he was certain that Quackity knew, knew exactly what was happening, if not the details, and yet the other man said nothing. It was just calm, careful hands on his shoulder or arm leading him away or pulling him back from a room he was about to walk into and escorting him somewhere else. No words were ever spoken about it, but he always knew to expect the other to catch his eyes once he emerged from his flowery moment, and give a soft nod or smile before getting back to doing whatever they had had planned that day among the four of them.

It was also getting harder to breathe. A lot of the time.

Skeppy was so happy, when Vurb finally made the right joke to get Bad flustered, or dropped a comment that had the two of them banding together, hands bumping against each other yet never quite catching. He was close, he could feel it. If he could just push Skeppy enough, goad him into a situation then he would finally just speak his mind and be safe. He wouldn’t ever have to look at another bloody peony petal again.

Skeppy would finally be safe and the yarn ball of anxiety that Vurb was constantly tugging at would unravel and then Vurb could focus on the possibility of saving himself. It wasn't the priority, possibly never would be, but it was certainly a thought he had late at night before disregarding it as selfish.

But almost as if Quackity was both angel and demon at once, every single time he seemed to be at the very turning point where his goal would be reached, just as Bad and Skeppy would lean in just a touch too close, Quackity was there.

loud, brash, undeniably funny, charismatic, and completely ruining whatever mood had been painstakingly set by Vurb. It was infuriating, and he didn’t know what to do short of kidnapping the man and tying him to a tree out in the woods.

Vurb wasn’t even sure if that would hold him for long. 

It's confusing, and nerve wracking. Sort of the way he would assume it would feel if an Endermen just started talking to you in common. Terrifying and outright crazy. Yet he couldn't figure out what to do about it. He liked Quackity enough, honestly he couldn't stop smiling when he was nearby. 

But he was about to go off the deep end if he didn't stop ruining every single one of his carefully laid plans to just get Bad and Skeppy to confess. 

Skeppy had been so close. Had been leaning in, hand glancing over Bad's cheek, staring into each other's eyes intently. The whole nine yards. He had almost ruined it himself with the desperate clawing of stems coming up his throat, but had choked it back and carefully, silently, pulled them out and tossed them behind him from his vantage point up in a tree nearby. 

But his attempts were in vain, because Quackity in all his stunningly obtuse glory waltzed right on over to the secluded bench on the edge of Bad's property near the pond, and flopped himself down between the two. Thrown his arms over each of their shoulder's and cheerfully asked if they had seen him around.

Ignoring the gentle warmth on his gut that Quackity had been looking for him, regardless of the reason, he winced at the heartbroken look on Skeppy's face as Bad took the opportunity to completely ignore his attempts to drive Quackity off in favor of hemming and hawing about where he had last spotted him.

It had been that morning at breakfast, but that was beyond the point.

It was a twisting mixture of emotions that swirled in his gut as he watched Skeppy stand up and stalk away, calling over his shoulder with a forced smile that he would go look for Vurb himself, before bringing a hand up to his mouth and hurrying out of sight.

He was going to kill Quackity, just a tad. Just a little. But first he needed to get down from the tree. Safely.


End file.
